Rain the biggest hazard to area golf courses

As if there aren't enough hazards, the recent heavy rains left golf courses saturated and littered with standing water. Thousands are off for the long holiday weekend and many more come into town expecting to play.

You can't play golf underwater and right now there's plenty of it out there. Some courses are open, while others are still drying out. Bottom line--the rain is hurting business.

Eastwood Golf Course is open for business, but barely. The ninth hole is almost unplayable.

"These conditions are going to put a real curve ball into the golf," said Rich Lamb, Director of City of Fort Myers Golf Courses.

Just down the road, the entrance to Whiskey Creek shows a telling sign. Wanting to play a round of golf, Richard Sheridan had to turn around and go home.

"In some ways you don't know whether to go or not go and you have to make a decision," Sheridan said.

"So, we really miss out on a lot of revenue when we're closed for a few days," said Chris Basara, Manager of Whiskey Creek Country Club.

Courses rely heavily on holiday weekends to help through slow summer months. The recent rain is putting a damper on sales.

"Can you imagine, nine-and-a-half inches in less than seven days is too much for any golf course to handle," Lamb said.

There are standing puddles of water at courses all over the county and it's easy to see if you hit your ball into that, there's no getting out of it.

If a course is open, players are most likely walking. If carts are allowed, they'll be confined to the cart path.

"With the amount of rainfall that we've got you can really do some serious damage to the course using carts," Basara said.

Rain--it's one of the few four-letter words players on the course don't like to hear.

The manager of Whiskey Creek says he hopes to be fully open tomorrow. It's recommend to call ahead to see if the course is playable. Also, ask what the conditions are like and if there's any cart rules in effect that day.